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I [didn't] give up

General support forum for Chameleon MediaCenter (formerly MM Browser)
robert5733
Posts: 52
Joined: Fri Jan 20, 2023 12:11 am

I [didn't] give up

Post by robert5733 » Fri Jan 20, 2023 12:38 am

I know that it is probably all dependant on MyMovies for the meta data to be correct, but I am at my wits end. I have used two different machines and failed to get CMC to import movies. CME seems to write all data needed and has no errors. When I try to sync CMC it only syncs half my movies. I have went through the logs and was able to correct all the errors it found and led me to the point of half. I found the beta version you posted for the access errors which finally allowed me to sync the half I got. I still receive some access errors but am able to get some movies too load. When syncing I get an error (posted below) that is the reason I assume that it stops syncing, but it doesn't tell me where the problem is. This happens on two different paths(drives), with the same error. I could send logs, but they don't tell me anything. I could try to look through the movies on that drive and see where it stopped, but they don't go in alphabetical order, so I don't know the next one it was trying to scan. No other logs identify a problem. I have been working on this for two days, and that is too much too get a program too work. I am running windows 8.1 in the hopes too move to windows 10, but if I can't get a program that works, I will stay on 8.1. Thank you for responding to my last question, I know you are working diligently on this program, I just wish MyMovies was onboard with you. Without 8.1, I feel their product is on the doomsday machine. Have you thought about a program that replaces MyMovies and makes your program seamless. I have 2000 movies in my database, so it would be cumbersome to move, but i Know the end is near. I will check back in the future and see if I can get things too work, and willing too donate if things work out, but at this time I have to call it quits.
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Pauven
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Re: I give up

Post by Pauven » Fri Jan 20, 2023 1:00 pm

Hi Robert,

I'm sorry to learn that you are experiencing issues with CMC, and I would like to help you - you're not alone in this journey. Though I'm not sure if you actually want help, since you seem to be giving up, but since you did post this message, I can't help but think you would like it to work. While it may seem like you are impossibly far away from a working CMC install, the solution is closer than you realize.

As far as easy solutions go, the first thing I must say is that most users really should be using CCC to move data from My Movies into CMC, since it makes this process so much easier, including troubleshooting bad My Movies data. That said, I know you emailed me a few days ago about using CMC with a thumb drive and are looking for a mobile solution, for which CME is the right approach. But I should point out that you can actually use both methods, you don't have to use just one or the other.

For example, at home you can use CCC to easily sync your full collection to CMC. Then for when you are on the road, you can also use CME to export the metadata into your media folders so that you can use CMC's folder scanning option to sync whatever movies you have on hand with you (assuming there's no way you can travel with your full collection). For this approach, you would have two separate CMC installs, one configured to talk to CCC for your full collection, and a 2nd one configured to folder scan for your partial mobile collection.

Also note that while this particular error (discussed below) will likely still occur with CCC (because it is bad My Movies data), if it does occur then it should be easier to troubleshoot because CCC has more informative logging by default.


Back to troubleshooting the CMC folder sync issue with CME data: You are right that the error that occurs causes the sync to abort in the middle. The error is obviously something I've encountered before, based upon the error message that I wrote, but it has been years since I looked at this particular issue so I'm a bit foggy. I've spent some time this morning reviewing my code, and at a high level the problem occurs when the code tries to process the episode info, but an earlier step did not identify this as a TV Series. For the code to get to this state, this must mean that there is both a Season # and an Episode # in the My Movies data, but somehow it is not linked to a TV Series.

Long story short, this is caused by bad My Movies data that occurs very rarely, and I've yet to automate the handling of this scenario.


To troubleshoot, please do the following:
  1. In CMC > Settings > Startup & Logging Options > Debug Logging <- ENABLE
  2. Run a FULL SYNC
  3. After the sync errors/aborts, the new Debug related log files in the "Logs" sub-folder will identify exactly which title has the issue
  4. Don't forget to turn off Debug Logging for best performance after you're done troubleshooting
Feel free to share with me all of the Debug log files, and I can help you identify the bad title. Essentially, the Debug Logs are written in real-time, as data is processed, and if the process aborts, you can scroll to the end of the log file to see what title was being processed when the error occurs. One we find the bad title, we can figure out the problem and the solution. It most likely is a title that is missing the connection to the TV Series, yet somehow has some episode data.

In the meanwhile, I'll dig into my code some more to see if I can also fix this on my end.

Paul
President, Chameleon Consulting LLC
Author, Chameleon MediaCenter

robert5733
Posts: 52
Joined: Fri Jan 20, 2023 12:11 am

Re: I give up

Post by robert5733 » Sun Jan 22, 2023 6:38 pm

A long post to try looking at this again.

I started using MM something like 15-20 years ago, so there were problems with meta-data back then. I have cleaned meta-data and restored the meta-data, but it doesn’t change where the data is stored in old or new movie folders, and not sure that it even loads different data. As is the case with the one movie I found that had “series” marked “true” in the script.

I have been working through the export logs for CME and found the following problems.

Found the one movie that had a “series” in the .xml script and didn’t export correctly. Tried to save meta-data for it but continually saved it with “series”. Deleted it and readded it and it corrected the .xml script without series in it.
Found 7 movies with incorrect/missing paths and fixed them in MM.

I still have 20 or 30 movies from back in the day that have second disks that aren’t mapped for things like special features, which I didn’t copy, before I knew exactly what I was doing. So I will need to go into MM and delete all the skipped offline disks. Not sure if that would make any difference in CMC syncing.

Now to the meat of it and where the problem appears to be happening.
When trying to load just one drive, with 800 or so movies, 412 in with meta-data from MM written to \movies folder and the other 400 written to \movies\video_ts folder, I find the debug log pretty much matches the amount of movies that have the meta-data mapped to the root folder \movie and probably missing the ones mapped to the \movies\video_ts folders. On the directory debug scan log it finds the movie but no meta-data when it is in the \video_ts folder and finds it in the ones with it in the root \movie folder. CME does however write the mmmovie.xml data to the \video_ts folder and not the root \movie when that is where MM wrote it.

This leads to only 412 movies showing up in CMC.

The getsubdirectoryinfo log is only processing the 412 subdir and not the 800 or so in that drive.

The updatemovieart debug log makes no mention of checking or updating any movies with meta-data in the \video_ts folders.

So, the questions are. I have about 800 movies with data in the video_ts folders. Do I have to go in and move all those .xml, folder.jpg, fanart, and covers to the root drive before exporting? Will MM have a problem with doing that? Or just copy the files to the root, will that cause a problem having them in two places? Or Just move the CME folders to the root drive? Would that cause a problem in CMC or CME if I moved them (program wouldn’t see them because it was set to go to the video_ts file)? Or is there a way for CMC to just look in both places in case others have the same issue. CME already looks in both places and writes the .xml to both places, CMC would just have to look in both places. I sure don’t want to have to delete and reenter 800 movies to see if MM changes the location.

The other problem I was having is the access violation errors. Some were fixed by using the beta you posted in another discussion, the others may have been from the problems discussed above.

Is CCC going to have the same problems with the location, causing CMC not to see them also.

I am going to work on the rest of my problems with mismapping in MM and await your response to decide how to proceed.

Thanks for your help, I appreciate you working to address my issues.

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Pauven
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Re: I give up

Post by Pauven » Sun Jan 22, 2023 8:18 pm

Hey Robert,

Okay, you threw a few curveballs at me with this post. I'll try to take it one piece at a time - fingers crossed I don't miss anything.

robert5733 wrote: Sun Jan 22, 2023 6:38 pm I started using MM something like 15-20 years ago, so there were problems with meta-data back then. I have cleaned meta-data and restored the meta-data, but it doesn’t change where the data is stored in old or new movie folders, and not sure that it even loads different data. As is the case with the one movie I found that had “series” marked “true” in the script.
Those old metadata issues shouldn't matter with either CME or CCC, as they both export fresh metadata. But your comment regarding "where" the data is stored is concerning. We get into that issue more below.

robert5733 wrote: Sun Jan 22, 2023 6:38 pm I have been working through the export logs for CME and found the following problems.

Found the one movie that had a “series” in the .xml script and didn’t export correctly. Tried to save meta-data for it but continually saved it with “series”. Deleted it and readded it and it corrected the .xml script without series in it.
Found 7 movies with incorrect/missing paths and fixed them in MM.
Sounds like good progress. I built a lot of data checks into CME (and CCC) to try and identify bad or missing My Movies data, so it looks like this is working okay for you. Data cleanup is never fun, but it certainly helps to have a tool point out the issues for you.

robert5733 wrote: Sun Jan 22, 2023 6:38 pm I still have 20 or 30 movies from back in the day that have second disks that aren’t mapped for things like special features, which I didn’t copy, before I knew exactly what I was doing. So I will need to go into MM and delete all the skipped offline disks. Not sure if that would make any difference in CMC syncing.
I wouldn't worry about that. CME will report on these, but you can ignore these informational messages. They're more for troubleshooting, i.e. if you are trying to figure out why disc 2 doesn't show up. I have hundreds of these myself, no issue at all.

robert5733 wrote: Sun Jan 22, 2023 6:38 pm When trying to load just one drive, with 800 or so movies, 412 in with meta-data from MM written to \movies folder and the other 400 written to \movies\video_ts folder, I find the debug log pretty much matches the amount of movies that have the meta-data mapped to the root folder \movie and probably missing the ones mapped to the \movies\video_ts folders.
Yep, looks like you've identified the problem. CMC is behaving as programmed - it will NOT look inside VIDEO_TS or other similar subfolders. So any movies you've pointed at the VIDEO_TS subfolder will never be found by CMC, by design.

The problem/solution is in My Movies Collection Management. You would need to update the disc path to be the disc root folder, not the VIDEO_TS subfolder.

robert5733 wrote: Sun Jan 22, 2023 6:38 pm So, the questions are. I have about 800 movies with data in the video_ts folders. Do I have to go in and move all those .xml, folder.jpg, fanart, and covers to the root drive before exporting?
No, please don't do that. Moving the files manually will only halfway solve the problem. The XML files have filepaths embedded inside them, and they will be incorrect if you move them. You also end up orphaning that data, as CME will be maintaining the data inside the VIDEO_TS, not the root where you manually moved older copies of that data, so in the future you would end up frustrated that data changes in My Movies is not showing up.

The correct solution is in My Movies Collection Management. For each affected title, open the Discs and change the folder to the movie root, instead of the VIDEO_TS folder. Then rerun CME doing a Full Export. All the data will then be written in the correct location.

You will have extra copies left behind in the VIDEO_TS folder, but those won't hurt anything and it's easiest just to forget about them. If it really bothers you, I have built some cleanup tools into CME to delete the metadata it creates, but it can be dangerous to use some of the more aggressive cleanup options. If you decide you want to do this, please reach out to me first and I can help you through this.

robert5733 wrote: Sun Jan 22, 2023 6:38 pm The other problem I was having is the access violation errors. Some were fixed by using the beta you posted in another discussion, the others may have been from the problems discussed above.
Hard to say at this point. But I would recommend solving the path issues first, as that might resolve the Access Violations just as you suggested.

robert5733 wrote: Sun Jan 22, 2023 6:38 pm Is CCC going to have the same problems with the location, causing CMC not to see them also.
Possibly, but to a much lesser degree. Because CCC directly exports the My Movies API data into the CMC database, it is immune to these path issues that are affecting CMC's folder scanning. So if you used CCC right now, 100% of your collection would show up in CMC.

The problems would then likely show up on playback. CMC calls external players, like PowerDVD and MPC-BE among others, to play your content, and does so by passing the path of your movies. Some players may accept the VIDEO_TS folder, but some players will error because this is not the root of the disc. So while CCC will get your collection visible in CMC, most likely half of it will have playback issues.

The solution described above, correcting the disc path in MMCM, fixes this playback issue too. Which is why I recommend fixing the disc paths in MM. Copying files created by CME would never fix the CCC solution, since CCC (and CMC when in CCC mode) never looks at these files, so the only way to fix CMC+CCC is to fix the disc paths in MMCM.

Hopefully that gets you on the right track. I find it unfortunate that My Movies Collection Management allows you to set the disc path to VIDEO_TS, since that can break downstream playback. That's actually the main reason I don't allow CMC to look inside VIDEO_TS or BDMV type subfolders, since it is incorrect and breaks playback with many players. So since MMCM doesn't force correct data practices, I make sure that CMC does.


There is one other workaround (a poor hack, really) that will let you see the other half of your collection immediately, but you will be missing all the rich metadata. In CMC > Settings > Movie Library Scanning, Enable the option to "Import Titles Missing Metadata", which is disabled by default. CMC will find and import all those titles that are currently missing altogether, but they will probably not have covers or any metadata. You will be able to play them, though.

That's not really a feature I designed for this scenario. Rather, I created it to address another issue - sometimes movies disappear from My Movies. By importing movies missing metadata, you can then find them in CMC's GUI, so you know to go fix them in My Movies. Obviously for 400+ missing movies this isn't really helpful, but I did want to mention this to you in case you find a use for this feature.
President, Chameleon Consulting LLC
Author, Chameleon MediaCenter

robert5733
Posts: 52
Joined: Fri Jan 20, 2023 12:11 am

Re: I give up

Post by robert5733 » Tue Jan 24, 2023 2:36 am

I appreciate all your time devoted to me and everyone else using your hard earned time and energy.
I have taken your suggestions and am overhauling my MM database. It is going to take some time to accomplish this endeavor.
Your program is outstanding and the logging and debug are working excellent, I will probably begin with exporting first and fixing problems and the syncing and fixing problems. I will let you know when the I am done and the final result, unless you want me to keep you updated as I progress, and problems I encounter for future users. I don't want to burden you with your time as I work out my problems.
I expect another 3-4 days just in first overhaul of MM database.
As you may know the MM is starting to lag in features such as the synopsis. Every movie I load now requires me to enter my own synopsis gathered from the imdb. This is supposed to be where MM is syncing with. I don't have a lot of hope with it, but will get my database as clean as I can get it, and back it up with CME just in case, if I can get it clean enough.

Thank you so much for your attention to your program, if it works out for me you will see a donation in your inbox, or wherever it goes. I'm sure you got it working for yourself, so there is a solution down the road somewhere. I need to change the title of my post, Maybe I just gave up too soon. It's not you it's the my MM database and if I don't fix it now, it will be a problem later.

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Pauven
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Re: I give up

Post by Pauven » Tue Jan 24, 2023 5:47 pm

Sounds good. Feel free to keep me updated as you progress - I'm here to help and sharing your journey helps others too.

I haven't noticed MM titles lacking in synopsis except for really new titles. Almost everything I add (mostly older stuff these days, trying to flesh out my collection) has already had everything added long before I got to it. On the rare occasion I add something really new, there's often data missing I have to add, but even then that seems like an exception. For example, I recently got the brand new Criterion edition of Wall-E in 4K, pre-ordered and everything, and I added it to my collection as soon as I received it, and yet somehow all the data was already there, even the new cover scans. But that's the only new title I've added recently, so maybe contributions have gotten worse and I just haven't been exposed to the issue yet.

Good point about backing up MM with CME - that's exactly what I do and one of the main reasons I keep CME alive. While CCC is so much better than CME, should MM ever stop working then CCC dies with it. Yet the data exported by CME will be good forever. So I use CCC daily, and a few times a year I fire up CME and export the metadata into the media folders. Then I backup my entire array to an external JBOD backup drive (no small feat considering my array is almost 100TB now), so the exported metadata gets copied into my backup drive too.

One of the cool things about CCC is that it includes support for newer features like Movie Collections, and includes offline titles. I thought I should point that out, since CME is very similar to, but not quite as capable as CCC. For home use, I highly recommend CCC, and would only suggest using CME these days if you need a mobile solution, and as the backup.

Good luck!
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Pauven
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Re: I give up

Post by Pauven » Sun Jul 16, 2023 12:19 pm

Hi Robert,

It's been about half a year since we chatted about this. I was just wondering how your cleanup went.

Paul
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Author, Chameleon MediaCenter

robert5733
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Re: I give up

Post by robert5733 » Mon Jul 24, 2023 1:01 am

Well, last time I dealt with this, I was actually in recovery from a head injury with severe TBI. I was isolating from people, is why I started playing with your program. My head was not really in the right place. I will try to update you on where I am at. I haven't touched the program again until now.

I can post the after action review from that time that I had wrote up, but, remember I was working on about half brain capacity at that time. I now have 2/3rds recovered, and will apparently be limited to that.

I cleaned my database and had all movies syncing at that time, but think I had a problem with displaying them all. Don't remember exactly, I will have to read through the posts and read my after action and see what transpired then.

My hard drive crashed recently and I had to restore MM and had some problems with it, so I just got through manually editing again, and think I have it corrected, albeit, not as good as my last cleanup. In order to check my work, I decided to see what CMC has to say about it. Used CME to clean and rewrite and have all my titles successfully exported. Just started a CMC sync now and will see what it comes up with.

Update: sync finished, correct number of titles are showing in lower right, but it says there were sync errors. Not going to view them now, will look at the logs after seeing results.

robert5733
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Re: I give up

Post by robert5733 » Mon Jul 24, 2023 1:10 am

Just read through the earlier posts.

On a better note though, I did not receive any access errors during the sync. Don't know if it's a cleaned MM database or new hard drive(NVME PCIe instead of Legacy SATA).

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Pauven
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Re: I give up

Post by Pauven » Mon Jul 24, 2023 4:13 pm

Hey Robert,

So sorry to hear about your struggles. I wish you all the best on your road to recovery.

I'm happy to learn that you were able to sync without any access issues. If you want to continue using CME, then use the error log as a checklist, and fix each title one-by-one.

Alternatively, you can switch from using CME to using CCC. CCC looks very similar to CME, so it is an easy change. But it does a much better job of exporting data. For the most part, everyone should be using CCC now. You only need to use CME if you want to make your collection portable.

Paul
President, Chameleon Consulting LLC
Author, Chameleon MediaCenter

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